Russia Sentences Former US Consulate Worker to Nearly 5 Years in Prison

FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)
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Russia Sentences Former US Consulate Worker to Nearly 5 Years in Prison

FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released by Lefortovo District Court, Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years, is escorted by officers to the court room at the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Lefortovo District Court via AP, File)

A court in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok on Friday convicted a former US Consulate worker charged with cooperating with a foreign state and sentenced him to four years and 10 months in prison.
Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and former employee of the US Consulate in Vladivostok, was arrested in May 2023. Russia's top domestic security agency, the FSB, accused him of “gathering information about the special military operation" in Ukraine, a partial call-up in Russian regions and its influence on "protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.”
The US State Department last year condemned the arrest and said the allegations against Shonov “are wholly without merit,” The Associated Press reported.
Shonov was charged under a new article of Russian law that criminalizes “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization to assist their activities clearly aimed against Russia’s security.” Kremlin critics and human rights advocates have said it is so broad that it can be used to punish any Russian with foreign connections. It carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.
The State Department has said Shonov worked at the US Consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. The consulate closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened.
The State Department has said that after a Russian government order in April 2021 required the dismissal of all local employees in US diplomatic outposts in Russia, Shonov worked at a company the US contracted with to support its embassy in Moscow.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in May 2023 that Shonov’s only role at the time of his arrest was “to compile media summaries of press items from publicly available Russian media sources.”
Shonov was held in the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, notorious for its harsh conditions, pending investigation, but stood trial in Vladivostok's Primorsky District Court.

In addition to a prison term, which Shonov was ordered to serve in a general regime penal colony, the court ruled that he must pay a fine of 1 million rubles (just over $10,000) and face additional restrictions for 16 months after finishing his prison sentence.



32 Killed in New Sectarian Violence in Pakistan

Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
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32 Killed in New Sectarian Violence in Pakistan

Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN

At least 32 people were killed and 47 wounded in sectarian clashes in northwest Pakistan, an official told AFP on Saturday, two days after attacks on Shiite passenger convoys killed 43.

Sporadic fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan has killed around 150 over the past months.

"Fighting between Shiite and Sunni communities continues at multiple locations. According to the latest reports, 32 people have been killed which include 14 Sunnis and 18 Shiites," a senior administrative official told AFP on condition of anonymity on Saturday.

On Thursday, gunmen opened fire on two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims travelling with police escort in Kurram, killing 43 while 11 wounded are still in "critical condition", officials told AFP.

In retaliation Shiite Muslims on Friday evening attacked several Sunni locations in the Kurram district, once a semi-autonomous region, where sectarian violence has resulted in the deaths of hundreds over the years.

"Around 7 pm (1400 GMT), a group of enraged Shiite individuals attacked the Sunni-dominated Bagan Bazaar," a senior police officer stationed in Kurram told AFP.

"After firing, they set the entire market ablaze and entered nearby homes, pouring petrol and setting them on fire. Initial reports suggest over 300 shops and more than 100 houses have been burned," he said.

Local Sunnis "also fired back at the attackers", he added.

Javedullah Mehsud, a senior official in Kurram said there were "efforts to restore peace ... (through) the deployment of security forces" and with the help of "local elders".

After Thursday's attacks that killed 43, including seven women and three children, thousands of Shiite Muslims took to the streets in various cities of Pakistan on Friday.

Several hundred people demonstrated in Lahore, Pakistan's second city and Karachi, the country's commercial hub.

In Parachinar, the main town of Kurram district, thousands participated in a sit-in, while hundreds attended the funerals of the victims, mainly Shiite civilians.